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Posted on 12/25/25 at 9:13 pm to Chastains
quote:
Fibrebond
They are a great little company up in Minden near Shreveport that has grown substantially over the years.
I know when Eaton bought them out a lot of people were nervous, but they immediately announced an expansion of their North Louisiana operations, and now…. Those nervous employees are walking around with a HUGE Christmas bonus.
Posted on 12/25/25 at 10:00 pm to greygoose
Did business with a privately owned insurance company in York Pa that sold to AIG 15 years ago. Every employee down to the custodians became millionaires after the sale.
Posted on 12/25/25 at 10:08 pm to magildachunks
quote:
Some owners understand who were responsible for their success.
Yes, they were a big part of it, but they wouldn't have been able to build their company without the people working for them.
I think owner’s $150 million risk to pivot from building shelters for electrical and telecom equipment to “building modular power enclosures for data centers” before covid had more to do with value of the company when sold. They went from 3 clients, laying off employees, and selling assets to pay off debt to the value of this sale in just 5 to 6 years after they pivoted the business to get more clients.
quote:
Fibrebond was founded in 1982 by Walker’s father, Claud Walker, with a dozen employees building shelters for electrical and telecom equipment.
It thrived during the cellular boom of the 1990s — then nearly collapsed when its factory burned to the ground in 1998.
The Walkers kept paying employees even as production stalled, a move workers still cite as the foundation of the company’s loyalty culture.
By the early 2000s, the dot-com bust slashed Fibrebond’s customer base to just three clients, forcing layoffs that cut the workforce from roughly 900 to 320.
Graham Walker and his brother later took over day-to-day operations, selling assets and paying down debt while searching for a new market.
The turnaround came with a risky $150 million investment to pivot into building modular power enclosures for data centers — a gamble that paid off when cloud computing demand surged during the pandemic.
Sales jumped nearly 400% in five years, drawing acquisition interest from larger industrial players.
This post was edited on 12/25/25 at 11:43 pm
Posted on 12/25/25 at 10:10 pm to dallastigers
quote:
By the early 2000s, the dot-com bust slashed Fibrebond’s customer base to just three clients, forcing layoffs that cut the workforce from roughly 900 to 320.
Graham Walker and his brother later took over day-to-day operations, selling assets and paying down debt while searching for a new market.
The turnaround came with a risky $150 million investment to pivot into building modular power enclosures for data centers — a gamble that paid off when cloud computing demand surged during the pandemic.
Sales jumped nearly 400% in five years, drawing acquisition interest from larger industrial players.
They went from making a frick ton of money, to a metric frick ton of money
Posted on 12/25/25 at 10:15 pm to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
No you didn’t
You need something in your pathetic life.
Posted on 12/25/25 at 10:16 pm to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
Mingo Was His NameO
It's amazing how miserable you are.
I don't think I've ever spent a single day feeling so... Meager. The smallest amount of kindness might shine some light in that little black heart of yours.
Posted on 12/25/25 at 11:32 pm to deltaland
Life changing money for likely all of those employees.
Great to see.
Great to see.
Posted on 12/26/25 at 12:02 am to Chastains
Went to HS with Graham Walker. He was younger than me so didn’t know him well, but was a pretty good guy from what I could tell. He came from a really good family too. I’m glad to see he is giving back. That amount of money could make a real difference in that area.
Posted on 12/26/25 at 12:12 am to Chastains
Only job I was ever fired from. Dropped out if college, and my dad said have a job before the end of the week. Put me on an all black crew, and the guys told me the supervisor hated white dudes. They said “you stay over here he’ll make sure you’re fired.” I no called, no showed after a concert at Rabb’s. Showed up Tuesday to walking papers. Took my arse right back to school at the start of the next semester. To be clear, I was fired for no call, no show; not for being white.
Posted on 12/26/25 at 3:05 am to magildachunks
A family member received two of his businesses .
Posted on 12/26/25 at 6:03 am to Chastains
This is a true American hero.
This man should have national articles done on his good work treating his people with decency and honor.
These are the best stories there are and I’m glad he shelled out the money to the men who put that work in. They deserve every penny.
If most men thought like this we would be far better off. If just one of his employees has a kid or whatever that has an idea, you never know one blessing may turn into jobs for the many.
Greed is a hard demon to shake.
This man should have national articles done on his good work treating his people with decency and honor.
These are the best stories there are and I’m glad he shelled out the money to the men who put that work in. They deserve every penny.
If most men thought like this we would be far better off. If just one of his employees has a kid or whatever that has an idea, you never know one blessing may turn into jobs for the many.
Greed is a hard demon to shake.
This post was edited on 12/26/25 at 6:05 am
Posted on 12/26/25 at 6:38 am to Chastains
quote:I don’t get how this was a negotiating point. They’re buying your company for $1.7B - what you do with the $1.7B is typically not something the buyer would have control over.
he would not agree to sell his company if prospective buyer Eaton did not earmark 15% of the proceeds for its employees
Posted on 12/26/25 at 6:57 am to drexyl
Yeah, I'm interested in that as well. This is an awesome story. But I'm certainly no expert on the subject of buyouts and contract negotiations. Anyone here on tOT able to explain why this needed to be stipulated? I'm genuinely curious and interested. TIA
Posted on 12/26/25 at 7:09 am to UKWildcats
Nice little send off for each employee
Do they get 443k a year for 5 years or is it 88k a year for five years to equal 443k?
Do they get 443k a year for 5 years or is it 88k a year for five years to equal 443k?
Posted on 12/26/25 at 7:31 am to X123F45
quote:
It's amazing how miserable you are. I don't think I've ever spent a single day feeling so... Meager. The smallest amount of kindness might shine some light in that little black heart of yours.
Yall call me miserable and are the ones melting over message board posts. Touch grass and you may not take it so seriously
Posted on 12/26/25 at 8:07 am to UKWildcats
quote:
I don’t get how this was a negotiating point. They’re buying your company for $1.7B - what you do with the $1.7B is typically not something the buyer would have control over.
quote:
. Anyone here on tOT able to explain why this needed to be stipulated?
The Wall Street Journal article, which the NY Post summarized, said this about having the buyer pay the bonuses:
quote:
Discussing the idea with tax experts and others, Walker realized he could maximize the payouts if they came from an acquirer, rather than his family, to avoid having the money taxed twice. Plus, if the family paid the bonuses, it would be harder to require staffers to stick around for several years. That was something Walker believed was important to ensure a successful transition to new ownership.
Posted on 12/26/25 at 8:22 am to drexyl
quote:
don’t get how this was a negotiating point. They’re buying your company for $1.7B - what you do with the $1.7B is typically not something the buyer would have control over.
Likely tax implications. For both Walker and the employees.
Well done.
Posted on 12/26/25 at 8:23 am to Twenty 49
There it is. I don’t have access to the WSJ story.
Posted on 12/26/25 at 8:40 am to Yeahright
quote:
The owner of Stabs on Lovett Road in Central told me this story and I was shocked
The owner of Stabs is a very good friend and he’s a class act too.
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